Car Insurance and Your Credit Score Jeffersonville IN

Your credit score is used by car insurance companies to determine what you pay. It's important to know your score before you shop for insurance. It's easily possible that someone who has never had an accident and never filed a claim could pay up to three times as much for insurance as another similar customer with an identical vehicle — because of differences in credit scores.

Car Insurance and Your Credit Score

Many car insurance companies now use your credit score to determine what you pay. Why? Because they say studies show that customers with poor credit histories are more likely to be in accidents and file claims. They claim that customers with bad scores are higher risks and it's only fair that those customers pay more for their policies.

Insurance regulations in many states now allow this practice, although regulatory administrators admit they don't understand the connection between credit scores and car accident claims.

It's easily possible that someone who has never had an accident and never filed a claim could pay up to three times as much for insurance as another similar customer with an identical vehicle — because of differences in credit scores.

How does it work? Insurance companies use a secret formula to calculate a customer's "insurance score" that is not quite the same as the more familiar FICO score from credit reporting agencies such as , Transunion, and Experian. Although the score itself may be different, the end result will nearly always be the same. If a customer has a poor FICO score, he'll almost certainly have a poor insurance score.

Companies such as Allstate charge poor-credit customers as much as three times the rate for customers with excellent credit. In fact, credit history is becoming one of the major factors, if not the major factor, in determining insurance rates.

Learn which auto insurance companies are best - and which are worse. Learn how to evaluate car insurance companies to find the best rates and best customer service. Most insurance companies can be easily investigated using convenient online resources.